QTR polymer photogravure calibration

BWMastery.com has created a Mac-based software tool called QuadToneProfiler-QuickCurve that enables a very streamlined linearization workflow for making digital positives for steel-backed polymer plates. This is a 20-page pdf description of that workflow. PDF files this size choke my CMS, so to download this file, please click this link

A6-ScreenTest.tif

This file is an image file that is useful in calculating the screen exposure time for polymer plates. Its use is described in the book Polymer Photogravure: A Step-By-Step Manual Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice available here. This file saves a step in that it can be used both for determining the screen exposure value for a polymer plate and also can be used for determining the upper and lower limits (Photoshop Levels) that will be used when printing the positive.

A6-StepTest.tif

This is a cobbled-together stepwedge (also called a target by some) that is used in polymer plate calibration. It contains both a single line 21-step image that is 0-100% black in steps of 5% as well as a 51-step image in 3 rows of 17 that encompasses the same range from 0-100% black but in steps of 2%. It is used when calibrating polymer plates (or digital negatives) to refine the QuadToneRIP .quad files that are used to print the positives.

A6-Screentest-Template

This is a downloadable template file that assists in making even screen exposure strips on an A6 plate during the calibration process for polymer photogravure. It is in the form of pdf that should be printed off at 100% scale on a laser printer or inkjet printer. The markings allow an opaque card to reveal additional plate material under the screen in even increments. Its use is described in the book Polymer Photogravure: A Step-By-Step Manual Highlighting Artists and Their Creative Practice available here.

Black and White torture test

This is a rather large tiff file used to test the smoothness of all your digital negative/positive work. In particular, the positive and negative circle gradients have a way of making ‘ramps’ in your correction curves very obvious.

QTR profiles for KM73 polymer plates

Quadtone RIP profiles for making digital positives on the Epson R3000, 7800 and 1400 printers. These were created for use with the Toyobo KM73 flexographic plates. For more detailed information on the process go to polymerphotogravure.com.

A personal photo formulary

This is a collection of photographic formulas that I have used and in some cases, still use. It is formatted in a .pdf that can be printed on executive size stock and then inserted into a small ring binder ideally sized for your darkroom.

QuadTone RIP Digineg Tutorial

This is a tutorial I wrote several years ago outlining the steps needed to use QuadTone RIP to create digital negatives for alternative process printing. For those who want to achieve the highest level of control over the digital negative process, the QuadTone RIP process still has no equal, albeit at the expense of a steepish learning curve. This tutorial is my attempt at creating a systematic way to use the QuadTone RIP driver for making negatives (and positives).

Ike's QTR curve creation script

This is a photoshop script written by my good friend and computer maestro David Eisenlord that painlessly creates a gray-curve-linearization Photoshop curve that can then be directly loaded into the QTR ink profile that is being built. This curve takes the headache out of thinking in ‘negative space’ during the QTR calibration process. As in, oh wait, my highlights are too dark, so that means I need to add more ink, right?

This script helps to minimize some of the mental gymnastics involved. I use it in the QTR tutorial download on my site.

My dated Pt/Pd manual

This is a somewhat dated pt/pd printing manual. It was written right before digital negatives really hit their stride. Consequently, some of it seems a little quaint at this point. The formulas and general information have not changed, however.